The Blame Game
It is a really interesting phase of life that pharmacy is going through. There is a huge amount of nervousness in the market at the moment and a lot of discussion about the future of the industry.
What surprises me the most is the different reactions? There are some who feel so helpless; I am concerned for their mental health. There is without doubt significant pain felt by some, who simply cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel. They are seeing their pharmacies go backwards year after year, with rents increasingly unaffordable. There is clear distress.
There are those who have sold out, or are looking to sell out. They cannot play this game anymore. They say it’s too hard now. Or they want to reduce their exposure in the industry and reduce debt.
The group that interests me the most are those that are playing the blame game. It’s the governments fault, it’s the Guild fault, it’s that landlords fault, and it’s the wholesalers fault, its Chemist Warehouse’s fault. They essentially blame the world for their tales of woe. It’s like complaining about being stuck in traffic, not realising you are in the traffic and contributing to the problem. I also think at times there is a sense of entitlement. When back in the good old days you made a decent quid by simply standing behind the dispensing counter, knock out 200 scripts a day and make buckets. It’s everyone else’s fault that has been taken away from them.
Yet there are those shining examples of pharmacies that are very impressive. The whole team is aligned with a purpose. You can feel the culture as soon as you walk in, and the people there are wonderful. The difference is the clearly defined purpose and vision for their pharmacy, which breeds the culture in the store also their interaction with their patients and their community.
The important issue to note here is they have taken control of their pharmacy and their future clearly identified their vision and purpose and backed that up with a well defined strategy. Perhaps it’s the case that there is too much reliance on others for the success of their own business. There is a reliance on the franchise, reliance on the wholesalers, reliance on the shopping centre to bring in people etc. Owners need to start taking control over their own businesses. They need to define their own purpose, their own visions and their own strategies. They need to take control again.
Whatever your views of the industry and the future of community pharmacy are, it is the owner who needs to take control and lead the business and the team. It is up to the owner, no one else.
Sometimes an owner needs the right environment to be able to think clearly about their own visions, about the future of their business and the future of the industry and how they should be positioned. Peak Strategies has the right environment for you.
